Washington Boro Creative Bazaar Spectacular!

We are WAY behind on keeping this thing up to date with where we are. We still have many posts about the rest of journey west to Pennsylvania and then north to Maine and back! But in the meantime…. you should just come see us in real life tomorrow night and buy lots of awesome, unique and handmade gifts!  Carrie will have prints from both Alaska and across North America as well as Alaskan pressed flowers, hand painted pillows and terrariums! We have over 10 vendors and it’s at our family farm – DRESS WARM!

This is a private event but feel free to bring friends and family!

Here’s more information (the farm is about 12 min west of Lancaster City): 

A sneak preview of some of the goodies that vendors are bringing:

burlap totes by j.almodovar

Eclectic jewelry by Mattie Horning

Hand sewn cards by Zoe Rohrer

Handmade vintage clutches by Laura Breneman

Fraktur painted boxes by our fantastic uncle, Jim King

Some of Carrie’s goods:

pressed flowers from Alaska

Hand painted deco pillows (this one is an ode to Hunger Games:)

And….one more reason to shop without reservation: 25% of sales will be going to a local Lancaster family with major medical needs. With a father battling advanced stages of cancer and their 1 1/2 year old son fighting major birth defects this family could use some extra love. Find out more about them here:  http://www.facebook.com/MelendezFamily

Sweet little Anthony was born with some very rare and very serious birth defects.

We hope to see you there!

beyond the couch

As we begin to slowly pack up and prepare ourselves to leave Alaska (for now anyway), I’ve been taking the time to reflect on some of the writing I did this summer. Wanted to share a little funny poem I found. It was a good reminder to myself:) Written August 8th, 2011.

Your spirit is on a journey

whether it’s on an office chair,

the couch,

or a monastery in Tibet.

Your spirit is traveling

on the roads you give it.

I think America might not

have an issue with just

obese bodies

& lazy asses,

I doubt our spirits

could get very far

on a mountain either.

Give your spirit a chance

to breathe,

the space to run,

and freedom to move

beyond the couch.

last fire on Diamond Creek Beach

september poppy

Luna's spirit knows how to get beyond the couch:)

sunset over the volcanos

Life as an Alaskan Deckhand

Jake's other girl for the summer, Miss Minmar

I’ve been putting off this post for months now, trying to gather all of the experience and photos I could before explaining what I do up here. Since the beginning of May I’ve been working for Tacklebuster Charters as first mate/deckhand aboard the Miss Minmar. When I first went looking for work back in April, I wasn’t sure exactly what to hope for. Originally I only planned to pick up enough work to pay the bills, leaving me enough time to enjoy this beautiful land we call home for the summer. Of course, I thought, I couldn’t come to Alaska and not do some fishing. I started walking the docks every day asking anyone and everyone if they were looking for help. I quickly discovered that I was far too early to find work on a charter boat; “Man, the season doesn’t start for another month,” was a common response.

One morning I called Tacklebuster Charters. Someone picked up.

“Are you looking for a deckhand this summer?” I asked.

“Have you deckhanded before?” the deep voice on the other end of the line said.

“Not at all. “

“Have you filleted before?”

“No.”

“Have you fished halibut before?”

“No.”

“Well, that could be good or it could be bad. Come down to my office tomorrow morning.”

Working on the Minmar

And that was how it began. On my first day, Captain Weldon told me to go out to his boat (it was dry-docked in front of his office) and look around, try to familiarize myself with the vessel. I did that for a half an hour then came back inside. The next six hours we sat in his office as two dozen people meandered in and out during the day, some swearing the coast guard up and down, some swearing the city up and down, but most of them just swearing up and down. It turns out that the stereotypical fisherman (swearing, boot-wearing, bearded ruffians) that you’ve seen in movies/books/television is true to life. I’m fascinated by these characters.

Captain Weldon at the helm.

Captain Weldon has turned out to be a wonderful employer, friend, and grandfather-esque figure. He’s always laid back and quick to joke around. I’ve seen him put butter on Poptarts, pork chops and and salt on fried chicken. Weldon only has two fingers on his left hand. For months I heard him tell our customers dozens of stories about how they had been lost (fish, sharks, lawnmowers, etc) before he revealed the truth to me. I’ll leave it up to him to reveal his secret. While most Captains actively help the customers fish on the back deck, Weldon informed me early on that I would be on my own. “I drive the boat to the fish, then its your show,” he told me during my second week of work. Weldon is 68 years old and probably a little burnt out on teaching unruly customers how to catch a fish.

Jeff's the man.

Our fishing season got off to a slow start. I spent my first month (May) doing boat maintenance and painting Weldon’s office. We started taking customers out in June as the tourism season kicked off in Homer. One of Weldon’s old deckhands, Jeff, stopped in for two weeks to teach me how to deckhand. I was completely overwhelmed by the prospect of 14 drunk fishermen on the back of our 41 foot boat. While most boats out of Homer carry no more than six customers, known as a six-pack, we carry up to 14, although rarely more than 10. I owe the success of my summer to Jeff. A commercial fisherman all of his life, this Kodiak native has fished for crab in the Bering Sea (think Deadliest Catch) as both a deckhand and captain, owns his own purse-saner for commercial salmon fishing, and is an all-around salty dog. After a few weeks of teaching me how to fish, how to do engine work on the boat, and how to survive a summer of deckhanding, Jeff was drawn back to Kodiak by soaring salmon prices and a bumper salmon run. Thanks for everything Jeff.

My average day since June looks like this:

Some serious tackle for some serious fish.

I don't know if we kept that one or not.

Filleting a halibut is both fun and exciting

This is what our clients generally look like at the end of the day

5:20 alarm and off to the harbor to pick up bait and get the boat in order before customers show up. Ride out 25-40 miles depending on weather and our fish-hunting prowess/desire. Fish most of the day. I teach, bait, entertain, and ultimately make or break the day for these fishermen. I love it–usually. It took me close to a month to become totally comfortable with the work but now I thrill in molding these tourists/would-be fishermen into halbut-slayers. And we have a GREAT time doing it. Plus the tips are outstanding.

Giving the morning fishing lesson. Rarely is this enough instruction

Paul Keagy came along; he was an outstanding fisherman!

The fish go in the fish box

I went about 30 days without a day off before I was able to sleep in. Weldon and I looked like we walked off the set of Dawn of the Dead every morning and I usually had to ask Carrie how our evening movies ended.

45+ pounds if I had to guess

Here’s some video of filleting on the back of the boat. It took me a while to get up to this speed; its kind of fun. I get some odd looks at times because my knife choice is unconventional. Most guys use a flexible, straight fillet knife while I use a very stiff, curved knife.

Drying out the xtratufs!

While Homer is known as the Halibut Capital of the world, the average fish size has been declining for the past five years. While big fish still come in (the current 2011 record holder is 350 pounds) they have more rare as the Cook Inlet becomes more and more commercially overfished. Ten years ago, Weldon tells me, it was rare that he went two days without catching a 100 pound fish; we haven’t caught one over 100 this year. But the few 80 pound monsters that we have caught are a sight to see. Because they can be a danger to our passengers when pulled in the boat, Weldon shoots any fish over 75 pounds with a .410 shotgun; its a heart-pounding few moments. At the same instant that Weldon shoots the fish in the head (the fish is laying just below the surface of the water alongside the boat) I harpoon it behind the head. The harpoon is tied to a buoy with 25 feet of rope attaching it to the boat. When the fish is shot they usually take off for the bottom; the buoy gives them some resistance and they can’t escape because they’re tied to the boat. Here’s a monster halibut.

A 500 pound halibut caught in the Cook Inlet. We did not take this photo

Luna Athena Joy Zippy of Alaska

Her first week in our little hillside community.

We were not looking for her – but here she is. We were not planning for her – and here she is. I remember (a whole month ago) just finishing cleaning a cabin bathroom floor with a wet wipe and getting up to walk outside. I hear Kim call from outside, “Carrie, have you met Athena?”. I walk slowly around the corner, ready to greet some flower child grandmother, and lo, here comes the most beautiful little black puppy bounding at me. In that exact moment something shifted in me. Yes, yes we all love puppies. Yes, we all want them. The thing is I thought she already had a permanent home and yet I felt this stirring, this connection, this countdown start. You see, a few weeks before someone had offered us a free black lab puppy in passing. When we followed up on it, they decided it was no longer free. We took that as a sign and let the puppy sail off to Kodiak for another home. Were we ‘ready’ for a puppy? No. At least we didn’t think so. Were we open to new adventures that came upon us? We were really trying to be. Now, a few weeks later, here is this Athena, running around our hillside with a big bear bell hanging from her neck.

She first started with two men who were homeless, living behind the local grocery store. Our landlord picked them up and offered them a work trade to live/work on our hill. They took it and brought Athena with them. During the day they worked, so they left her with Ann and Steve, a very sweet older couple from New Hampshire that were also staying on the hill for work trade for a month while traveling. The rest gets a bit confusing and spreads out over the month. Here’s the quick version:

1. The two guys get work on Kodiak, salmon fishing, and decide they can’t take the dog.

2. Ann and Steve are not sure if they are up for it and offer her to the Girls (the property managers, CJ and Kim)

The bear bell. Really better for finding her in the weeds.

The Girls take her for her first bath.

3. The girls ask if she can stay with us while they puppy proof their house, they also change her name to Luna (which I love)

4. Luna sleeps a night with us and does AWESOME. Sleeps in her crate all night and only goes to the bathroom outside!

Luna sleeps over in the yurt.

5. We take Luna to the beach for our friend Jason’s birthday. She does amazing off leash. Jason and Cole also fall in love with her (like we slowly are).

We all love Luna:)

oh my heart - she is special.

She barked at the waves that night.

Awesome off leash hiking buddy. (both of them:)

6. The Girls keep Luna for a night.

7. The next morning they offer her to me, after finding out the place they were moving wouldn’t allow more than 2 pets (they have 2 cats).

8. I call Cole and talk about it with her and ask if they are interested in case Jake says no. They are but also want us to have her. I’m really excited.

9. I go pick up Luna from Ann and Steve (they watch her while we clean)

10. Ann doesn’t know the girls gave her to me, so she confides in me, confessing she wants to keep the puppy, even though it might make the girls sad. I tell her they offered her to me – my only concern was that her and Steve might want her – so I give her back. Ann changes her name to Zippy and buys her a crate for $100 from the girls.

11. I’m sad….but of course life will be easier without  a puppy so I rationalize away and try to detach myself.

12. Ann puts the names “Athena”, “Luna” and “Zippy”  in  a hat and lets the puppy pick. She picks Athena so now it’s back to that.

13. Ann and Steve get ready to continue their travels. A few days before they call me and ask if we are still interested. They don’t think they have enough energy or discipline for Athena.

14. Oh my.

15. Jake is on the fence. I’m sold. We hang out with her on the beach and with Jason and Cole – trying to figure out which of us couples should end up with her. They also aren’t 100% that they can have here where they are moving to in Washington. We change her name back to Luna – it’s so much easier to say (and we like it better). She doesn’t seem to mind as it sounds a lot like Athena.

16. Cole has a good talk with me about fate and the unexpected and reassures me that our life isn’t over if we end up with Luna.

16. Cole and Jason plan to come meet Ann and Steve and take her for the night. But then, schedules clash and it doesn’t work out. Jake in the meantime is slowly changing his mind.

17. The next day Ann and Steve bring her over and say they are officially giving us to her and feel at peace about it. If we choose to give her away again that is up to us. They give us her crate, tons of food, toys, leashes and food bowls. They will not take a cent for this.

18. I tell Ann to please pick out a photo block at least. She chooses one of the harbor to take home with them to New Hampshire. So we got a puppy and all the trimmings in exchange for one photo. Good deal.

19. We keep her for the night and tell Cole and Jason we’ll decide in the next few days.

20. It doesn’t take long. I’m decided. Jake is melting into a puppy loving pile. I know what his answer is when he includes her in our breakfast prayer.

Falling fast.

He's so good with her. I think she loves him most:)

21. I keep seeing black labs everywhere I go, on everything, in every yard, everywhere. I’m sitting on the toilet in one of the empty cabins and look up and read the art on the wall. “To find joy, follow your heart”. Jake and I take the plunge.

22. Immediate feeling of peace. The roller coaster is over for now. We skype with my folks and brother and they are swooning. Mom says we should make her middle name “Joy” like mine. Luna adds an immediate spring to our step and a sweet new room to our hearts.

23. We adore her.

24. We took her to the vet and she is HEALTHY. The Dr. even couldn’t get over how good she was. And soft. And sweet. She didn’t even respond to getting her rabies shot.

25. We’re getting to know each other better. She loves chomping on driftwood and seashells, is getting braver around the waves, would play with big dogs all day long if she could, thinks she is a lap dog, will test you and test you and test you again, listens extremely well for her age, is 9-12 weeks old, prefers a tennis ball, LOVES weeds, can’t get enough touches in the morning, is part husky, is already house trained and crate trained, and is just a very very special little girl.

NOW WHAT???

Well, our future plans are still fuzzy. We don’t know what’s next for us yet. All that we know is Luna is part of the plans right now. Either we are her forever owners or we are a conduit for her to get back to Pennsylvania to a wonderful family. Whatever it is, it feels right. Scary, but right. This means we probably won’t get to go to Hawaii this fall. But really, we don’t even care. Weird, right?

After a full out dive into very wet weeds.

Her favorite.

We often think of GOING places when we think of new adventures and opening our lives up. But be aware, really, its the unexpected that comes and jumps in, something that you never knew you would need or that you were missing. What comes for you might not be in the form of a free for all tromp around islands. It might come in the shape of a homeless little black lab/husky mix.

Luna is a MAGNET for new friends.

She's keeping us young.

Adventure on.

and then there were 3 in the yurt:)

Homer Street Faire

Alaskan photo blocks for the faire!

In two weeks is a little event in Homer that Cole and I decided to be a part of. The Homer Street Faire! Cole is working away at making fantastic feather earrings (even using turkey feathers). I just received a massive order of square prints and Jake and I cut a ton of wood blocks to sell these little bad boys – all shot in Alaska. We will also be selling Bead for Life at our table (separately) – funky and bright bracelets/necklaces/earrings made by women in Uganda (monies go back to them). Cole and I are having fun finding tables and display type things  - we really hope to stumble upon a pop tent as this event is rain or shine. We are calling our little booth of bright lovelies “This Brilliant Earth” (so if you are in Homer look for us!). If the prints don’t sell here in Homer we will bring them back to Lancaster/Goshen in November/December and folks back home can purchase any if they want – otherwise we will just have to make an Alaskan wall part of our future home someday:)

All photos from in or around Homer.

Doesn't this look like a fun event?

Midnight Sun

The sun is up and it could be midnight. That’s just the way it is in the summers in Alaska. Summer solstice has passed so at least the days will stop getting longer. It was odd at first (especially when we were having a hard time blocking the sunlight out of our yurt at night) but now we love having all this daytime. We often hit 10pm and decide to go on a spontaneous hike down a bluff or into the woods. I thought I would miss night time more than I actually do – I think this is because we now fake night time – covering the sunroof and windows when we finally decide to go to bed. It does still get darker – like an early early morning dusk – so camping is even ok for sleeping (unless bears keep you up all night – we’ll post on that later).

With all the sun we’ve been staying up and a few nights we’ve taken to writing spontaneous songs. The following is one of those – written very fast and randomly with Jake on the guitar. Hope you enjoy! All the lyrics are based on simple little experiences we’ve had here:)

 

Thanks to Kate Baer for uploading this on youtube for us due to our low internet connections:)

Alaska+Yurt= Adventure

and there she is folks!

Welcome to life in a 16ft circle. For the most part it’s glorious (for a summer at least). There are many days I am so thankful to have this experience. It’s showing us that yes, we can live (and thrive) simply. We have no bathroom or kitchen. It’s one open room with a deck (bonus!). Fortunately we live on a gorgeous and private hill overlooking Kachemak Bay, 7 glaciers and even a volcano. There is plenty of room to run around outside, a greenhouse to tend to and our little deck garden. In exchange for our housing this summer, we help clean luxurious rental cabins in Homer, Alaska. There are bears, moose, whales, porcupines and eagles to watch (and beware of) on any given day. And a cute little black cat named Whisper as well as a frequent visitor, Bandit the dog. Living in a yurt is NOT easy but it’s an adventure – and that’s what we were after. Jake and I decided we could live in one more long term if it was a bit bigger and we put in a little bathroom/kitchen, maybe lofted the bed and had more room to entertain.

Our view of the volcano

Fish tacos and Balderdash with Cole and Jason (the bed played the role of a bench so we had enough seats)

16ft across

Having a deck makes a huge difference.

this is what happens when you buy rain boots at target.

Doing the dishes is quite the event.

PROS:

- Fun and interesting

- we are always in the same room

- forces us to be creative on a daily basis

- great scenery

- using less water, energy, etc.

- warms up very quickly

- homey and cozy

- we have a great excuse to grill out every night

CONS:

- no shower, real toilet or hot water.

- emptying a 5 gallon bucket every day

- we are always in the same room:) ie: Jake gets up earlier than me so now I wear earplugs so I have a harder time hearing him eat 3 bowls of cereal every single morning.

- spiders (we got used to one living up in our skylight for awhile (Freddie) until he started spreading his webs further down into the yurt.) Jake doesn’t mind spiders.

- hard to entertain (especially without a bathroom)

Freddie the Spider is now outdoors due to overstepping his skylight boundaries.

Jake trying to make our sink/counter with limited supplies.

Poor Jakie.

Finished sink/counter!

Our little muffin/brownie/roll maker!

DETAILS:

So far we have a bunk bed (a full mattress on the bottom and a twin up top), a table and two chairs, a mini-fridge, and rigged up sink/counter, an rv toilet (only used for number 1!), a ‘closet’ and lots of shelves we made out of wood we’ve been finding. We also have a microwave, hot dish, rice steamer and a mini muffin maker (all oven-less folks should get this!). We can use cabins that are empty (between guests) for showers and I can also use the ovens for baking bread. We have a hose of freezing water that Jake connected to a sink. The water empties into a 5-gallon bucket which we then empty once or twice a day. This method is fairly primitive and makes cleaning dishes an even more hated chore, but it does help you conserve water like never before!

We struck gold by being located on a property where we can use certain amenities that normally wouldn’t be available to small yurt dwellers. Showers and laundry!

Showers: 

Oh the luxury of having a shower in your home! Do you know how lucky you are right now? We are at the mercy of an empty cabin. There have been several days where ALL the cabins are occupied and so we are outta luck. Fortunately Jake thinks he can use one in the harbor. I, on the other hand do not have this option…

Laundry:

We trek down through a little canyon to reach the other side of the property where the office and greenhouse are. We are free to do laundry in the office! This is great. The funny thing is that sometimes we walk along the highway a short distance instead of cutting through the canyon. We probably look pretty great lugging our bag of laundry along the main road into Homer. I’m surprised no one has offered to pick us up yet since it  looks like we’re trying to walk the two miles to town!

The greenhouse I take care of

We have more time to read, write, sing, paint, grow things....

Getting creative with the grill.

fisheye view of the land, hammock and yurt in harmony. and some hanging arugula!

We made a velcro cover for the skylight at night so we could sleep in darkness.

Having a hammock makes any space a living room.

Skylight lighting - maybe we should make the yurt a photo studio with all the natural lighting!

Would we live in this yurt for years? No, but it makes for an outstanding summer adventure and has opened our eyes to the reality of small-footprint living. Jake has been fascinated with sustainable homes for quite some time now; this summer allows us to do a run-through before we commit to living tiny elsewhere.

‘Til next time.

Home(r) for the Summer

View coming into Homer - The Spit is that skinny stretch in the bay.

I know, I know – we have been terrible at updating. We have, in fact, been in Homer, Alaska for over a month and are only now telling you about it. Please forgive this slacker behavior – we don’t even have an excuse for it as at least I (Carrie) have all the time in the world right now.

It was nice to finally be able to break out our Alaska map.

We drove down the Kenai Peninsula from Anchorage on April 18. An incredible drive – so if you are coming to visit we would recommend flying into Anchorage and renting a car. As we curved down the coast we were overcome with many strange feelings. This was our last stop on a 2 month road trip – we had finally made it. Even though we might just be here for the summer before continuing our journey – it’s still a place we can call home for now.

I will never forget cresting the final hill into Homer. Our eyes went big and we pulled into an overlook immediately to be able to soak it in. It’s truly a breath-taking place to live – especially for two kids like us from the lower 48. Here are a few photos around Homer from the last month…

Kachemak Bay

The harbor on the Spit.

A paddle boarder off Bishop's Beach - about 2 miles from us.

St. Augustine - an active volcano you can see from our deck.

Our first week and a half we were welcomed onto the YWAM base to live in a parsonage for only $20 a day while we looked for more permanent housing. We had a great time meeting and getting to know the staff there and Scott, one of the directors, even took us out on our first halibut fishing trip. We learned that there were already many connections to Lancaster from this base and we played the ‘mennonite game’ of who knows who. They currently have teams living in villages on remote Alaskan islands working with the people there. Sounds like they are a solid group doing a lot of great work.

Halibut!

A messy and cute little fishing buddy.

I love sea otters.

Jake getting to practice filleting a halibut.

One of my catches - small but still...

Jake doing the rookie challenge - he bit off the head of a herring.

After spending hours on craigslist, asking everyone we met if they knew somewhere we could live, and walking into the local rental agencies to ask around we finally found something. One morning we were on craigslist and found a work-exchange for a yurt a few miles out of town. We called the guy right up and he said we had first dibs. We stopped by later, helped them with some truck unloading right off the bat, and then got a tour of the property and yurt. The deal was that I would help the two managers (Kim and CJ, who also live there) clean the vacation cabins a few hours a week (that’s right – I would help CLEAN:) and Jake would mow twice a week. In exchange we can live in the 16ft yurt with a great view at no cost. Sounded like a pretty good situation so we moved in a few days later.

We have now been living in the yurt for about 4 weeks. It’s not easy but it’s a good experience. Next week I’m going to focus an entire post on this experience so stay tuned. Here are some photos though to give you an idea.

Our yurt! Don't worry, it's much greener around us now.

Much better...

The view from where we live - that caboose is one of the cabins I help clean.

Another 'cabin' I help clean - they claim this one is haunted. Great.

More of our view. Some days are gray and other days are like this.

Homer is known for many things: the halibut fishing capitol of the world, the hometown of singer Jewel, the hometown and harbor of the guys from Deadliest Catch, The End of The Road (literally) and more. There are also 7 glaciers, volcanoes, bald eagles, sea otters, whales and all kinds of things to gawk at. We also live in what is known as the Ring of Fire.

The king crabbing boat from Discovery Channel's "Deadliest Catch"

Since we are new to Alaska we have also been enamored by the many moose that run around. Just this week we saw 11 moose within 30 minutes. They are big and goofy and just don’t care. They are also very dangerous. Many car accidents are due to moose as well as some ‘kicking to death’ incidents mostly involving drunk young folk thinking they should try and ride one. Bonus: I can’t believe it but a video finally uploaded! Here is one of our moose encounters while living in the parsonage at the YWAM base the first week.

Oh, hello moose.

Go ahead. Take your time.

Watch the video!

Bald eagles are everywhere. Two live near right near our yurt.

Bears are also very present here. We have not seen any yet though one of the property managers has spotted droppings on trails near the yurt. Good. These are usually black bears which gives you a much better chance than grizzlies. Supposedly all of those are across the bay…except last week a family a we know (they live a few miles from us) had a mama grizzly and her two cubs just walk through their yard. I have been diligently reading up on what to do to avoid being eaten to death. Poor Jake now has to take turns singing with me whenever we hike so the bears have plenty of time to hear us and move on.

More things to get used to are the dwindling hours of night – the sun just keeps staying out longer and longer…which we actually love right now. The sun doesn’t set until close to 11pm. This makes the whole evening very confusing and we often forget to eat dinner until close to 9/10 pm. It’s also going to be a summer with highs of 60 degrees. Good thing we stopped in Florida for a few weeks back in February. It is possible to get hot though – when the sun shines it’s very direct and quickly warms you up.

So what are we doing this summer? Well under the guidance of some locals, Jake went down to the harbor which is located on The Spit (a skinny 5 mile peninsula stretching out into the bay which is the main tourist attraction of Homer). He went out a few times and just started asking around at different charters and boats if anyone needed a deckhand for the summer. After two weeks of this (along with some phone calls) he found a captain that was ready to take him on. Right now it’s a lot of ‘getting the boats ready’ and they’ve only taken one group out so far. The season should start to pick up in June/July though and many people have told us that the company Jake is with is well respected and normally have a good summer. Jake is the only deckhand right now and will go out with Captain Weldon on day-trips with up to 14 passengers who want to fish for halibut. Jake’s job is to help all these folks out, get them baited, help pull them in and then fillet their fish on the back of the boat as they head back in. He promises to write a whole post on this experience later in the season.

Jake working on his boat for the summer, Miss Minmar

Deckhand Jake! Though he already has one new dock nickname: Big Diesel. What?

Jake getting down in the engine room with Captain Weldon teaching him.

So far we are really enjoying Homer, have made several friends and are just looking forward to what the next few months have in store for us here. Thanks for helping us to get here and for all your support as we continue to adventure.

Folks love late night beach fires around here. We're pleased.

Got to do some free kayaking the first week with a new friend, Will.

Homer has a great mix of cafes, bars, art galleries and a nice little music scene.

The road turns to gravel and then eventually ends right here.

So many friendly people, this family just welcomed us right in and invited to a birthday party on the beach.

Spring is slowly waking up here.

The ROAD to Alaska

April 12 -17 – Our last stretch of this journey was through Canada…

The very long road to Alaska from Vancouver: 3,152 km to Tok, the first town you come to in Alaska.

p.s. We had many fun videos to go along with this post but sadly our connection here in Homer cannot handle uploading them.

We drove over 4,000 km (around 2,500 miles) to get to Homer, AK from Vancouver, BC

First: Sea to Sky Highway

This is a gorgeous stretch (409km/254 miles) of road heading to and beyond Whistler from Vancouver. We didn’t take a lot of photos of it but you can get the idea here. According to Wiki “in 2006 the UK’s The Guardian newspaper listed the Sea to Sky as the 5th best road trip.”

Jake at a 'runaround' stop on the Sea to Sky Highway

Our first night we stayed in a nice little hotel in Whistler. We spent the evening walking around the ‘town’ and eating some delicious fries with gravy and cheese curds. I think if we had the time/money to ski or board we would have enjoyed Whistler much more. From our short stay there we were not super excited about the mega touristy hot spot – felt more like a disney set than having an authentic local feel. We would give it a second chance though – many friends have raved about all the outdoorsy adventures to be had there so next time we will make room for that. It was neat to gawk at the trails towering above in the fog and imagine you were an Olympian speeding down the mountain. Since we are far from Olympian I was also having “fun” striking terror in my heart thinking about all the ungodly fatal spills I would have within minutes on the slopes.

A giant called Whistler.

We continued on the next day, the loooong and beautiful journey north.

Had a lot of great roads like this.

Brave, brave little subaru.

Oh my heart.

Melting ice is rather quite lovely.

We happened to remember a friend of ours (Fiona) was from William’s Lake, several hours north of Whistler. So with limited internet in the hotel before we left I quick sent off a message to her to ask if her mother was in town and ready for some guests. We tried not to call anyone with our phones due to the obnoxious charge to do so while in Canada. After arriving in William’s Lake and driving around looking for a coffee shop with wi-fi (no luck), we got smart and crept around some developments with my phone held up to the window with it’s wi-fi feelers extended. We probably looked like complete stalkers – but it worked! After coming to a quick stop by a little ranch house we had just enough connection to check my messages and find out that yes, we did have a warm place to stay for the night, address and all. Fiona’s lovely mother welcomed us with open arms, bowls of chili, plates of warm bread and delicious wine. We stayed up late with her swapping travel stories and trying to figure out our next move. Should we try for a ferry through the inside passage? Or continue up to the Alaskan Highway? I was a big fan of taking the ferry (we found out the BC Ferry was cheaper than the Alaskan Ferry), but lo, the next one wasn’t going out for a few weeks, leaving us just one choice. Keep on the gravel and pray for the best.

I just had to get the classic horse picture, even if it's a drive-by.

As we continued on our journey we were encouraged by others to take the “long way around” due to the weather and lack of gas stations being open along certain roads. So we followed their advice and still hit some dramatic snow. Our first day out of William’s Lake we were forced to stop a few hours later (due to accidents and gnarly road conditions) at Fort St. John and stay at a Super 8. Fortunately it had a water slide and hot continental breakfast. We met two guys in the hot tub who were oil workers and told us to come back there for jobs if Alaska didn’t work out. The next morning after making waffles and eating bulk scrambled eggs (speaking of; I have really started to obsess about hard boiled eggs on this trip – love them) we headed north again – we saw many abandoned vehicles from the day before so we were very happy with our decision to wait it out. The Subaru also got some new tires since she was in dire need and we had a bit of time while snow stuck.

It started to get bad...

A common site.

If only we had a hitch...and a big truck. Who leaves these behind?

After many hours of sitting on the edge of ours seats through snow, the roads finally began to clear and our spirits were sky high.

Why does he have a red eye?

Perhaps we could trade the Subaru for this? Straight up?

Fort Nelson’s cheapest hotel wooed us in for the night. You get what you pay for. There was nothing to this town. Besides Dominoes. So we got a pizza and brought it back to watch a movie. The drunk guests that were bunked in the next room decided to slam their door half way through the movie and our channel slowly went to complete fuzz. I am not a fan of Fort Nelson.

The following day we were ready to hit the road towards the Yukon. A great stop was Liard River Hot Springs. We trekked back this boardwalk to find the springs and hopped in. Later we found out 2 people had been mauled to death by a black bear on that exact boardwalk several years ago. I am quickly learning not to underestimate bears – even if they’re “just black bears”. Needless to say we had a great time and walked out with all our limbs still attached.

The boardwalk to the hot springs.

Liard River Hot Springs

We finally made it to the Yukon and (after stopping at the infamous Sign Post Forest which we were not prepared for) ended up in Whitehorse for the night at a nice little hotel. This city was my favorite since Vancouver. Seemed like there was a lot going on and many adventures to be had.

And..there she is.

Look! A sign post forest! Notice Tokyo is not much further than NY.

We were sad we had nothing to add.

The closer we got to Alaska the more breath-taking the surroundings got.

Some caribou.

More caribou

A mural in Whitehorse

After one last stop for some Tim Horton’s coffee we got in our now filthy subaru and made our way to Alaska. We drove all the way to Anchorage from Whitehorse and oh my, that last bit of Canada knocks you over. The Kluane National Park keeps your jaw dropped for at least an hour as you weave through the glaciers and lakes. Canada you were SO expensive but still beautiful – we are expecting nothing less from Alaska (we hope gas is a bit cheaper though).

Woah. This might make the wall.

She loves her new tires.

Kluane National Park - last stretch of Canada - going out in full glory.

Vancouver for a Minute

Vancouver/Abbotsford: April 10-12

Yeah!

Finally to Vancouver! Well, first we spent the night in Abbotsford with friends from college. A young married couple, Dan and Amy, had both traveled with Jake for a semester in South Africa. They have been living in Canada for almost 2 years volunteering through Mennonite Central Committee. The next day we drove the hour to Vancouver and trekked around to see the sites and taste the foods.

Looks like we're all Canucks?

Who doesn't love a totem pole or two?

Stanley Park in the NW corner of Vancouver has a beautiful pathway that follows the seawall around its perimeter. There were a remarkable number of Vancouverites rollerblading on the path; was this 1992?

Had sunshine all day!

Not sure who this is but I like her.

We also checked out the ever touristy Granville Island for a delicious lunch at the market.

View from Granville Island

Well, isn't that a pretty set-up?

This was a very tasty pot-pie stew - be fun to make these at home.

I mean, I guess?

Before heading back to Abbotsford to make some dinner we decided to try and find the ‘free’ suspension bridge as opposed to this really cool one that you had to pay for (maybe next time). After much traipsing around we finally got a tip from mountain biker that we were completely in the wrong place. She directed us to the right location – a few miles away – and off we went in the Subaru. We’re so glad we didn’t give up – a very fun little stop.

Suspension Bridge! The free one.

What a talent.

Look at all that green.

We picked up some smoked salmon for a dinner to thank Dan and Amy for their hospitality. We made up the recipe on the fly and I think it’s worth repeating. We posted it here if you’d like to try it.

Dan and Amy! Our gracious hosts.

Go ahead and make this.

Dan's "Dear America"

We know such a short stay is no way to experience a place so we do hope to return to Vancouver someday – especially to dive into the music/arts scene which is rumored to be great. A Canucks game would also be a good time. We were anxious to get moving though as we had a LONG drive to Alaska – 3,000 miles about? So off we went.